{"id":789,"date":"2009-01-19T07:04:25","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T12:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=789"},"modified":"2022-06-29T06:35:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T11:35:45","slug":"lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twelve Mile Circle is getting ready for Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009. Everyone is excited. Even one of the local brewpubs<\/a> is getting in on the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Obama<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Looming Traffic Nightmare<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ve watched in amazement as officials have leveraged the local geography to establish a security perimeter. From Virginia it’s a simple a matter of restricting access to five Potomac River bridges inside the Beltway. That completely blocks the flow of private vehicular traffic into the District of Columbia. Plus, shutting down two interstate highways and the parkway to inbound travelers will have quite an effect too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally I can see the need to regulate the 14th Street Bridge, Memorial Bridge and Theodore Roosevelt Bridge. Those all lead directly to the heart of the downtown core. However, I’m a little skeptical about restrictions on Key Bridge and Chain Bridge further up-river. Apparently local officials believe that the road infrastructure on either side of the bridges cannot handle the expected crush, and I can sort-of see that. What is totally baloney is an argument I’ve seen floated around that this is somehow a Civil War pay-back to Virginia. That’s a crock. No, it’s simply security theater on steroids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n